Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus
Rhinoceros
Elephant
Emerald
Amethyst

These are words that Hazel says (Ivy too, if she can be bothered). I think they are great. What ace little kids they are.

Yesterday we went to the Werribee zoo again. We got there early (it opens at 9), and when we arrived at the hippo pool, there was no-one about. Well it looked like that last time too, until someone surfaced to breathe - we saw NOSTRILS! So we hung about waiting for nostrils. Then a gate clanged open and a hippo peered out of its enclosure - they were being let out of their night-time quarters, back into their pools. We had a marvellous show of hippos lurching over dry land into their pools, and surfacing a long way away.

The male was in the furthest pool so we didn't see much of him. He bellowed GOOD MORNING in hippopotamus-ish to the ladies. Then there was a female on her own in the middle pool. Not sure why she was on her own. Then in the closest pool were two adult females and a baby. They nosed the lone female through the fence to say GOOD MORNING (in hippopotamus-ish). Then they all leapt and frolicked in the water. When they walk they look damaged and in pain, but in the water a hippo is a graceful beast.

The cheetahs are not on display - their exhibit is being renovated. Sad.

The zebras are neat and clean. Their stripes are clearly delineated, and they stand very still to give us a good view of stripy precision. We ate mandarins while we appreciated them.

The 40-minute safari bus ride was not a huge success. The girls were not that keen on seeing animals from a bus. Ivy has been sad and clingy for a couple of weeks, and chose a moment just before the bus ride to recover. Someone pulled the cord in the middle of her back, and she became a jiggling, laughing, giggling, manic wiggler. She was happy enough to look at the giraffes, bison, antelope etc for a few seconds each, but then she went back to bouncing, jouncing, squeaking, gasping, and generally carrying on like an elated pork chop. It's nice to have Happy Ivy back.